Comments on: SEC, Texas A&M, And Other Expansion Headlines

By: Jamie Thornton

Jamie Thornton — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:02:55 +0000

I don't know why all these rumors are around one school. WVU. I've heard reports from LSU fans who went to morgantown that said Mike SLive was there. That most LSU fans were impressed with the crowd and spirit. Last night ESPN radio was reporting WVU would have a press conference to be the sec's 14th team. Even the Mizzou rivals site had something on it. So why don't you hear anything with any of these other schools? Why is all this talk coming out of WVU? Maybe John aka Mr.SEC can answer that. By the way John, I'm not saying any of that's true. I'm with you dead on about WVU being a fallback choice. I'm just wondering why all the rumors and talk are about WVU.

By: Bamahead

Bamahead — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:01:30 +0000

Agreed that Mizzou in the East would be the easiest solution for all. They would play UK and UT annually which would give them somewhat of a geographic rival and like Vol said – give them Arky as their permanent X division rival.

-OR- Here's another totally out of left field thought:

SEC North:
UT
UK
Mizzou
Ark
Ole Miss
Vandy
USC

SEC South:
Bama
Aub
UGA
UF
LSU
Miss St.
A&M

Cross Div Rivalries:
UGA v USC
Bama v UT
A&M v Ark
Miss St v Ole Miss
UF v UK
Vandy v LSU

You lose UT v UF, but of course that was never a real rivalry anyway before '92 expansion. You also lose a couple of others like LSU v Ark or LSU v Ole Miss. You're not going to make everyone happy..,but all just a thought. Do with this idea as you will!

By: JarrenBlake

JarrenBlake — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:59:27 +0000

More importantly, legal talk or not. If the SEC truely has not even a single inkling of what it wants or a list a teams that it feels would be a good 14th, then its truely a sad thing. The constant fear of litigation when every other conference waves it off as an afterthought as they approach other schools and pursue active expansion to reach their target goals whether that be 10, 12, 14, or 16.

By: JarrenBlake

JarrenBlake — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:52:57 +0000

Meant that as moving Tenn to the West instead of moving Vandy, while pushing Bama and Auburn into the east.

Also a North/South divisional format could be formed. But that reflects Bama, LSU, UF, Auburn likely in the same division and thats too painful.

By: JarrenBlake

JarrenBlake — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:49:51 +0000

Perhaps the easiest way to do it is indeed to be abit more radical about the divisions. If another team to the west is added, say Mizzou, then asking that team to play in the east for the sake of rivalry games is silly. If all rivalry games were such a huge importance then expansion would not be happening at the pace that it is. An ugly truth is that Tenn lacks an in state rival and the Bama game replaces that, but for a couple of decades now the Auburn/Bama rivalry is more meaningful. But I digress. If moving Vandy to the West makes the East too difficult then you could perhaps move Tenn to the East instead. But then folks complain about the Tenn/Uf game and so forth. In the end Tenn needs to actually pick on a rivalry game that matters most to it and then move accordingly from there. If its Bama, then support the moves that preserve that game, if its Uf, then likewise. But unlikely that you will get both.

By: gatormoss

gatormoss — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:56:22 +0000

Maybe FSU and VT was miffed at expansion teams the ACC selected that does not increase its football marketability. Adding WVU would be away to demonstrate their commitment to football. Interesting!

By: rmft

rmft — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:48:18 +0000

To really even them out…

it might just be best to completely redo the divisions when team 14 arrives, and split the divisions down the middle using rivalries and trying to equally distribute the power teams between the two

We dont have to call them something stupid like Legends & Leaders…

We could call them SOUTH and EASTERN (as in the conference, this will have nothing to do with geography, its a rip off of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions of the ACC)

By: rmft

rmft — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:44:06 +0000

yeah but think about how insane the SEC would be

UGA
Florida
Bama
Auburn
Tennessee
South Carolina
Kentucky

Thats 5 of the 6 Power Programs of the SEC in the same division… and LSU basically gets a free ride to the SEC Champoinship every year.

LSU
A&M
Ark
Ole Miss
Miss St
Vandy
Mizzou

I mean it doesn't get any more uneven than that

By: rmft

rmft — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:40:30 +0000

I just heard on the radio from a WVU guy talking about an article in the some WV paper saying they were in fact going to get that ACC bid after all…

take it with a grain of salt, of course

By: MIZ_SEC

MIZ_SEC — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:37:51 +0000

Agree, Mizzou to the East is the easiest solution and preserves all of the SEC rivalries. Just put Mizzou in the East and make A&M its permanent rival.

If the SEC ever goes to 16, then you can probably blow it all up and go to a four-team pod system at that point.

By: UofA72

UofA72 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:29:32 +0000

Yeah but where are the refs going to get those dark glasses they wear when not on the field? And how are they going to find out what they really did in the game? Just kidding- good policy.

By: johnmrsec

johnmrsec — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:31:56 +0000

Every time someone posts a link and we catch it, we delete the post. Been saying that for months. We're tired of ads for sunglasses and other people's Bleacher Report stories in our comment boxes.

Thanks,
John

By: HoustonVol

HoustonVol — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:19:36 +0000

Right but then Auburn would have to sacrifice the rivalry with UGA. Not going to happen. There should be some untouchable rivalries in the SEC. UT/Bama, UGA/Burn, UF/UGA, Bama/Burn, Ole Miss/Miss St. LSU/ARK, LSU/Ole Miss. Best friend is an LSU grad – this is his biggest rivalry. The only rivalries that are threaten are the two cross divisional rivalries with Auburn and Bama. If either of those school switch divisions then the SEC would either have to have one of those schools with two permanent rivalries while the rest the conference just has one, and rotates games or assign everyone two perm rivals. The other option is if the 14th schools is Mizzou, just assign them to the east. Give them a perm cross divisional game vs. Ark, and have TAMU play USC every year. One thing that has become clear – geography is not that important in conference expansion. This would give the eastern teams access to the new TV market in the mid-west and the western teams more access to Texas. Everyone wins, even Mizzou who will get to play their three closest schools (KY, Vandy and Ark) each year and play the 4 schools that are in boarder states (UT+ the above 3). Mizzou also get more exposure in the recruiting beds of GA and FL.

By: FL fan

FL fan — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:17:45 +0000

I keep reading about Auburn moving east, but wouldn't it make as much sense to move both Alabama and Auburn to the East and Vanderbilt to the West?

By: tradeassociation

tradeassociation — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:05:05 +0000

Were the SEC to add Missouri (or some other team west of Georgia), it has always been presumed that Auburn would go to the SEC East because they are further east than Alabama (and also let's face it, they're the little brother). But think about it … with Auburn in the SEC East, Alabama would have to give up their rivalry with either Auburn or Tennessee.

But with Alabama in the SEC East, they would play Tennessee in the division and could play Auburn as their annual rival. They give up playing LSU annually in that scenario, but pick up Florida and Georgia … a net gain. They would also not have to go to Starkville and Fayetteville every year, let alone have to travel to College Station and Columbia (assuming it is Missouri). Worth thinking about …

By: johnmrsec

johnmrsec — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:36:19 +0000

Post Deleted.

No cursing in the comment areas, please.

By: Gatormoss

Gatormoss — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:06:56 +0000

John

Do you think it is in ACC best interest to not be a 16 team conference at this time?

If the SEC adds an ACC team as the 14th team, does UConn get added to the ACC to bring them back to 14?

If the SEC does not add an ACC team, does the ACC go to a 16 team league to add UConn?

Gatormoss